ST. LOUIS | The more effective the weapons, the greater the chances of winning. Unable to do justice since the start of the season, the Habs’ massive attack finally unlocked.
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The Canadian took advantage of two of his three power plays, which greatly helped him beat the Blues 7-4.
Juraj Slafkovsky, who was making a comeback after missing three games with an upper-body injury, had yet to hit the ice with a man advantage.
Possibly judging that he was ready for this mission, St-Louis used him on the second unit. The tall Slovak responded by beating Jordan Binnington with a superb shot into the top of the net.
“I always want to shoot,” Slafkovsky said after the game. But that’s just a goal. The proofs have to be redone every day. My goal is to be better from game to game. »
A little over two minutes later, Cole Caufield imitated the rookie, while another Blues player, Colton Parayko, was in the dungeon. This goal, Caufield’s second of the game, allowed the Habs, thanks to three unanswered goals, to take the lead for the first time in the game.
“We faced adversity. We lost by two goals halfway through the game. We fought. The massive attack got us back in the game. The momentum changed sides from that moment, ”commented Christian Dvorak.
That the massive attack marks, we waited impatiently. What we expected less is a hat trick from this same Dvorak. The American still hadn’t hit the target in eight and two-thirds games when the third period kicked off. Two goals scored on his first appearance of the period and another scored in an empty net allowed him to finish the game with the first hat trick of his career.
It took him 367 games to experience this moment of euphoria.
“I’ve already come close a few times, but it feels good to finally break the ice,” he said.
Hungry Blues
It must be said that at equal strength, his trio is the one that had shown the most stability during the first two engagements. As their teammates struggled to get out of their territory, Josh Anderson, Brendan Gallagher and he gave Jake Allen a few moments of respite every time they jumped onto the rink.
Because, yes, the Canadian exploded with seven goals. But the first half of the match did not give the impression that the Montrealers were going to add two ranking points to their record.
Met a few hours before the start of the game, Martin St-Louis expected his opponents to come out strong and apply a lot of pressure in order to stop their three-game losing streak. He had been right.
Craig Berube’s men rushed the visitors relentlessly in the first part of the match. Enough to give themselves a 3-1 lead halfway through the game.
Nick Suzuki was the other scorer for the Canadian.
On Caufield’s second goal of the game, he recorded the 100th assist of his career.
What we noticed…
THE STANDS FOR DROUIN
Joel Armia and Michael Pezzetta played their first game of the season. Recovered from his upper body injury, which caused him to miss the last three games, Juraj Slafkovsky was back in training. Jonathan Drouin, Evgenii Dadonov and Rem Pitlick were left out. It was the third time this season that Drouin had watched a game from the bridge.
DACH ON THE FIRST TRIO
Archive photo, Martin Chevalier
Martin St-Louis is still trying to find the perfect partner for Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. It was Kirby Dach’s turn to get an audition. “He has the skills to play with talented players. I’m curious to see what it’s going to be like,” said St-Louis before the game. After a lackluster start to the game, the 21-year-old striker found his bearings, being an accomplice to Cole Caufield’s two goals.
SWEET REVENGE FOR ALLEN
On his first visit to his old home, Jake Allen allowed four goals in a 4-1 loss. This time he stopped 26 shots for his third win of the season.
FIGHTING TYLER PITLICK
Tyler Pitlick’s 14-game stint in Montreal didn’t go down in history. Signed by the Blues earlier this week, Although only used for 9mins 58s, Pitlick wanted his former side to take notice. He did all the work leading up to Noel Acciari’s goal with an effective forecheck against Arber Xhekaj. Earlier in the game, he nearly opened the scoring, but missed an open goal.
RARE BAD SEQUENCE
The loss was the Blues’ fourth in a row. This is the first time since the hiring of Craig Berube, on November 21, 2018, that Brett Hull’s former training has gone through such a sequence.
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Cole Caufield
He did what the best sniper in a formation should do: sound the charge when his team needed it. The American was behind the rise of the Canadian in the second half of the second period. With any luck, he could have scored the second hat trick of his career
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Kaiden Guhlé
He will become a great defender, but until then, there will possibly be some more difficult evenings. This was the case on Saturday. Less effective in his territory, he rushed a few plays, which led to a few turnovers. He was directly responsible for the Blues’ fourth goal, that of Vladimir Tarasenko, by putting the puck on the stick of Robert Thomas
First period
1-STL: Jordan Kyrou (2) (Schenn, Faulk)7:47
2-MON: Nick Suzuki (4) (Harris, Caufield)15:08
Penalties: Leddy (Stl) 19:27
Second period
3-STL: Noel Acciari (1) (Pitlick, Krug)5:10
4-STL: Jordan Kyrou (3) (Faulk, Schenn)AN-9:38
5-MON: Cole Caufield (6) (Suzuki, Dach)10:56
6-MON: Juraj Slafkovsky (2) (Wideman, Gallagher)AN-13:05
7-MON: Cole Caufield (7) (Suzuki, Dach)AN-15:46
Penalties: Anderson (Mon) 9:31, Barbashev (Stl) 11:17, Parayko (Stl) 14:24, Hoffman (Mon) 17:26
Third period
8-MON: Christian Dvorak (1) (unaided)0:41
9-MON: Christian Dvorak (2) (Anderson, Harris)1:21
10-STL: Vladimir Tarasenko (3) (Thomas)2:47
11-MON: Christian Dvorak (3) (Monahan, Allen)FD-18:25
Penalties: Suzuki (Mon) 2:34, Krug (Stl) 2:34
Shoot to the net
MONTREAL 6 – 11 – 8 – 25 ST LOUIS 10 – 9 – 11 – 30
Guardians:
MON: Jake Allen (G, 3-3-0) STL: Jordan Binnington (P, 3-2-0)
Numerical advantages:
MON: 2 in 3, STL: 1 in 2
Referees:
Jon McIsaac, Brandon Schneider
Linesmen:
Bryan Pancich, Kyle Flemington
ASSISTANCE:
18096